Star Trek: Voyager – “Homestead”

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Homestead

Cast and Crew

Directed by: LeVar Burton
Written By: Raf Green

Starring:
Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway
Robert Beltran as Chakotay
Roxann Dawson as B’Elanna Torres
Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips as Neelix
Robert Picardo as The Doctor
Tim Russ as Tuvok
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
Garrett Wang as Harry Kim

Guest Cast:
Rob Labelle as Oxilon
Julianne Christie as Dexa
Ian Meltzer as Brax
Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman
John Kenton Shull as Nocona
Christian R. Conrad as Miner

Original Airdate

May 9, 2001

What Happened

Neelix is hosting a party to celebrate First Contact Day, the anniversary of the Vulcans’ arrival on Earth, when Chakotay interrupts with news that sensors have detected Talaxian lifesigns a few light-years away. The U.S.S. Voyager follows the readings to an asteroid field, so Tom Paris, Tuvok and Neelix take the Delta Flyer to track down the Talaxians. They discover their lifesigns inside a large asteroid, but then an explosion forces the Flyer to crash-land on that asteroid.

Neelix regains consciousness to find a pretty, widowed Talaxian woman named Dexa treating his injuries. She tells him his friends are safe, and that the explosion came from miners who are using charges to break apart asteroids for their mineral resources. Dexa wonders why Neelix is living with aliens, and keeps him locked behind a forcefield. Meanwhile on Voyager, the crew is preparing a rescue mission when Commander Nocona, the leader of the miners, hails them and explains that a mining operation is in progress. He warns Captain Janeway to stay out of the field and says his people will search for the missing crewmembers.

Neelix is visited again by Dexa, this time with Talaxian council regent Oxilon, who tells him he’s free to go. While they’re willing to let Neelix stay awhile, they want his alien friends to leave as soon as possible, prompting Neelix to take his leave as well. As Dexa escorts him back to the Delta Flyer, Neelix learns that 500 Talaxians live inside the asteroid, which they excavated and developed using technology from their disassembled ships. Neelix rejoins Paris and Tuvok in the Delta Flyer, feeling let down that the encounter with his people fell short of his expectations. As repairs are being completed, an intruder alert reveals that Brax, Dexa’s young son, has snuck on board. When Neelix takes the boy back to his mother, he finds her and Oxilon in a confrontation with the miners. Nocona is ordering the Talaxians to evacuate the asteroid so it can be demolished. Dexa stands up to him in defense of her home, and he pushes her aside. In response Brax throws a rock at Nocona, and when the miners attempt to grab the boy Neelix defends him and gets into an altercation with the miners. They reach a standoff, so the miners give the Talaxians three days and leave.

Oxilon is worried that the fight may have made things worse, but Dexa suggests it’s time to defend themselves rather than run away. Neelix offers to help out by asking Captain Janeway to negotiate with the miners, and asks Dexa, Oxilon and Brax to visit Voyager. Neelix gives Dexa and Brax a tour of the ship, and while Naomi takes Brax on a holodeck adventure, Neelix and Dexa have dinner together. He learns that her people – refugees from the Haakonian takeover of Talax – first settled on a planet called Phanos where they were restricted to a very small area. When her husband attempted to farm outside their allowed zone, he was killed by a government patrol. Then they came to the asteroid, where they thought they wouldn’t be bothered. Neelix reassures her there’s still hope, and the attraction between them grows.

The next day Janeway leads discussions between Nocona and Oxilon, but the miners won’t compromise except to extend their deadline for evacuation. After the failed negotiation, Janeway agrees to ferry the homesteaders and their supplies to the nearest M-Class planet. Concerned for their safety, Neelix asks Tuvok for advice on how to devise a defense strategy for the Talaxians’ new home. Tuvok proposes that their current home could be defended by a shield perimeter, but with the miners monitoring the asteroid they would need competent leadership to defend against a pre-emptive attack. Tuvok suggests to Neelix that he could be that leader.

With Janeway’s blessing, Neelix takes his own ship to the asteroid and proposes to the homesteaders a plan to establish a shield grid, by using their one remaining ship to implant 16 forcefield emitters into the asteroid’s surface. The miners will attack, so Neelix will provide cover from his own ship. Oxilon protests that people will get hurt, but Neelix counters that their home is worth defending, and Dexa agrees. As the Talaxians prepare for the operation, Neelix and Dexa share a passionate kiss.

Oxilon pilots the ship that fires the emitters into the asteroid, and as he gets into position to plant the last one, the miners intercept and attack. After Neelix retaliates, the miners start dropping charges to demolish the asteroid. He manages to neutralize one of their charges, but then the miners knock out his weapons, so when the next charge is dropped Neelix attempts to collide with it. But then the Delta Flyer arrives and obliterates the explosive, saving Neelix’s life. Janeway contacts him and says they just came to help a friend in distress. The final emitter is planted and Dexa activates the shield, successfully repelling the miners’ attacks.

As Neelix says goodbye to his new friends, Brax asks him to stay. After returning to Voyager, and especially after realizing that Naomi is growing up, Neelix finds himself in a dilemma. When he tries to talk to Janeway about it, she offers him a chance to serve as Starfleet’s permanent ambassador in the Delta Quadrant. He accepts, and after a touching send-off by the crew, leaves Voyager for good to join his people, and become a family with Dexa and Brax.

Review

So long Neelix! We’ll miss you. Now who’s on KP duty? At any rate this was a well-scripted episode nicely wrapping up Neelix’s character and the plight of the Telaxian people. The writers have tried grafting on several “oppressed people” faces onto the Telaxian race, and none of them have stuck (homeland = the Jews, victims of a horrific weapon = the Japanese). We feel badly for them, but not on the scale as ST fans do for the Bajorans. Neelix is given center seat on this storyline and he needs to make a hard decision. The support of his friends (Janeway’s in particular) helps him get through it. It’s one of those rare episodes where the deeper bond between everyone in the crew is evident.

The final resolution is well rounded. Neelix isn’t completely abandoning his Federation friends, but he’s also gaining the family he lost so long ago. As Vader would say: “The circle is now complete.”

Is this the last we’ll see of Neelix? Probably not. According to spoilers, Neelix makes a brief appearance talking with Seven via long-range communications. Just as well, he deserves a little screen time during the big send-off.

High Point

Excellent resolution to Neelix’s character. I hope the writers continue this trend for the other crew members.

Low Point

The Tuvok Two-Step? Just plain silly if you ask me.

The Scores

Originality: I can’t remember there being anything like this before, but it didn’t feel too original. 3 out of 6

Effects: Good stuff. Delta Flyer crash lands, smooth combat sequences. 5 out of 6

Story: Good plot, especially underscoring the Telaxian’s tendency to just lay down instead of standing up for what the believe in. 4 out 6

Acting: The guest cast gives us some great performances, and Ethan Phillips does his level best to finish off his character. 4 out of 6

Emotional Response: I was sad to see the little fuzz face leave. 5 out of 6

Production: I like LeVar Burton’s episodes. He’s so familiar with the Trek genre, that they always come off clean. 4 out of 6

Overall: An excellent farewell. 4 out 6

Total: 29 out of 42

Stills

Brand new episode next week: “Renaissance Man” Last regular episode before the two-hour finale!

9 replies on “Star Trek: Voyager – “Homestead””

  1. Question.
    Since your hockey team is likely to continue soundly spanking my hockey team, is Voyager getting relocated for you next Wednesday as well?

  2. Not a good episode…..
    Homestead was just very Star Trek cliche, not to mention the fact that they never really explained how the Telaxians ended up on the other end of the Delta Quandrant (didn’t Kess knock like years off Voyagers journey after that Borg thing?). Suddenly the Telaxians can travel thousands of light years? This whole episode could have been boiled down to maybe 10 minutes with the rest of the episode being devoted to something more intrestin than Nelix. Hopefully Star Trek Enterprise won’t be as crappy as Voyager has become.

  3. RE: Question
    The Avs continue smashing their way through the NHL, as a result I won’t catch the penultimate episode, “Renaissance Man,” until this weekend. Sorry gang.

  4. no two step???
    man, i thought the final moments with tuvok

    were just incredible! the relationship between

    the two of them has ALWAYS been building — and

    to have to final pay-off played out as it was…

    well, i don’t know.

    i just couldn’t possiblee think of that scene

    as a ‘low point.’ i mean, i got goosebumps.

  5. AOL Mode: Me Too
    I must indeed concur with the previous poster — the Tuvok Two-Step (it’s a new trend!) was not only touching, but absolutely hilarious. They even worked it in whilst still being true to the characters involved. If ever there’s a “Classic Voyager Moments” special, that darn well better be on it.

  6. Great Episode
    I thought this was a fabulous episode. I’ve always sort of dismissed Neelix, but I found myself all choked up at a few points.


    I also liked Janeway’s line, in her log, saying that they were waiting around to give Neelix time to say a hard goodbye to “his new friends”. She meant it one way, but the line turns around well.


    I hope Tuvok and the rest of the crew gave Neelix some good ideas on how to bump up the defenses of the asteroid for the next Bad Guys(tm) that come around. If I were Neelix, I would have been downloading tons of schmatics to take with me.


    p.s. No preview for the submissions, makes me nervous.

  7. Previews
    I’ve been trying to find a good way to get comment previews working for, well, for a long time. My comments code is truly ugly.

    It’ll be done someday, though, I promise.

  8. is today good?
    I’ve been testing this for a while, but (inspired, no doubt, by entirely too much Guinness, I finally believe I’ve got it working. This is a test of the new system; I’ve previewed it about a zillion times before you saw it.

    Hopefully, it’ll work, and placate the lovely Tails (the original inspiration for this feature) all at the same time.

  9. Fast moving spacebabes
    OK. Voyager is on the edge of Federation space and runs into Telaxians. It’s taken Voyager seven years, a couple of big boosts & every shortcut they could find yet the Telaxians are already here, seem well aware of the destruction of their homeworld (which implies they didn’t set out that long ago or have some incredible comms) and aren’t known for risk-taking or particularly high technology.

    Either the Voyager crew has been slacking off bigtime or the Telaxians have some travel tips the Federation should be interested in.

    Whatever the case Neelix falls into the classic Trek pattern of falling for the first spacebabe he meets. Literally the first. Seriously, he wakes up from being knocked unconscious and starts hitting on her. He brings her & her son to his ship while knowing almost nothing about them, has a special dinner, makes it entirely clear he’s falling for her.

    I dunno about you but it seems that in the 23rd century we’d have learnt to get a bit beyond the cliché crush, particularly between folks from different races / cultures / etc. Heck, it seems that about every member of the Voyager crew could be wooed by the first critter with bumps in the right places that returned their glance (hey, mebbe sailors haven’t changed that much after all!) These folks don’t even shop around; it’s the first warm body they meet.

    Ugly critters of the galaxy: Hang out by the doors of your local cantina & when a stranger in a Federation pajama-uniform appears they’ll pick you up, fall in love, make great sacrifices for you. Prime directive & diplomacy be dammed, they’ve known you 12 hours!

    Doesn’t say much for their emotional maturity.

    Anyway, said spacebabe is clearly into what Neelix can do for her people and not all that into him. He’s promising good things she’s more then happy to play along with him. His captain refuses his proposal and the spacebabe walks off without a backwards glance like a disappointed Trinerian Gold-digger.

    What a Neelix to do? Lets see, these folks are unfriendly, xenophobic, insincere and led by what appears to be a cult leader. They’re living in the middle of a mining area, appear to have known about what’s going on around them yet have made no plans to move on, not even contingency plans. His spacebabe has made it clear that she’s not interested in him but only in any goods he can deliver.

    Well as a crew-member of the Voyager (Academy trained or not he’s enough of a crew-member to be an Ambassador for them, don’t know how much more crew you can get then that!) he races off to get involved. No matter that the miners seem an overwhelming force, no matter that intentionally or not he’s dragging Voyager into this (as if the miners are going to really care about his specific relationship to the rest of the Voyager crew – he’s their *Ambassador*!) he’s pulled Voyager & thus the Federation into this quibble.

    Smooth move, as a Captain I’d be thrilled at that. Crewman falls in love, crewman takes action, Voyager & thus Federation appear responsible.

    No wonder Voyager has a bad reputation across much of the Delta Quadrant, they’re a bunch of loose cannons making unilateral decisions based on their raging hormones (they’re really got to put a standing saltpeter-order into the replicators or schedule more mandatory holodeck time!)

    Anyway Neelix is successful, ruins the economics of the miners operation (hmmm – helped 500 Telaxians keep their rock, po’d powerful miners -there’s a smart move!) and decides to stay on with his people.

    Sure they’re xenophobic. Sure there’s only 500. Sure they live in an isolated asteroid and now have some powerful enemies. Sure they’ve shown themselves to be only interested in him for the goods & services he can deliver. They’re his species and he’s got a crush on one.

    And Janeway? After this latest bit of Federation interference she offers him Ambassador-to-the-Quadrant.

    Yeah, crew of the starship that’s garnered bad press across this new Quadrant and they put their never-met-a-non-Voyager-member-of-the-Federation person in charge of diplomacy. Not even giving the new explorers a chance to distance themselves from the worst of Voyager’s mistakes (and there’s been more then a few.) Whatever happened to plausible denialability? Bet that singes a few career-diplomats back at Federation HQ.

    And the ship flies on…

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